(This is my seven-year-old's book. She seems to like it but is not enthralled with it at this point; I think she is probably a bit young for it still, but I'll continue to get it for her unless she specifically asks me not to, which is unlikely.)
I've bought the DC kid-level books for the girls before--they used to watch the Justice League and Teen Titans series on Cartoon Network, so it was Teen Titans Go and Justice League...what was that one called? The old one? Doesn't matter. They had different Titans faves (the older likes Raven, the younger Starfire) but among the League they both liked Hawkgirl so occasional arguments ensued.
But that's beside the point here. I haven't seen the other books in the Marvel Adventures series, but if the art is like this in all of them, I like it. Clear, detailed, bright, and the panel order generally makes sense. Pretty much the same style as any other Marvel book (unlike the DC kid books, which--understandably--were drawn in the style of the cartoons they were based on).
The story is fairly direct, pretty much a straighforward and fast-moving telling of the main tale with no side-stories, which makes it easier for a beginning reader to follow. The plot is simple: the Avengers are called in by the military or whoever it is who pays their salaries in this universe, and told that they will no longer be needed because someone has invented an army of Ultron robots. Almost immediately, Something Goes Wrong and the robots attack. The Avengers assemble, kick some ass (I suppose that should be "butt" in this book), and all is well.
As an adult I found the book not all that thrilling. For my daughter, though, I think it's just fine. The book moves along quickly and there's little to distract from the main storyline. The battle is impressive without being frightening. The story is self-contained, and I hope that future issues as well keep to the one-shot stories. The characters (this book's version of the Avengers includes Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Storm, Wolverine, Spider-man, and Giant-Girl) have personalities (toned-down versions of those they display in the 616-universe books).
So, overall, I'd give this book a recommendation for kids.
Now, my older daughter read it and she liked it but she prefers New Avengers. And I can understand why. When I was her age (11) one of the things I liked about comics was the heroes' off-duty moments; I remember an issue of Fantastic Four where they were playing a casual game of baseball and Mr. Fantastic stretched out his arm to catch an otherwise-home run because it was their only ball. I loved that stuff. And, so far in this book, there hasn't been any. (I do expect there will be in future issues. ) Another thing that seems a little cartoony is that the characters don't tend to call each other by their real names--again, this probably has to do with the situation, they were on duty--but I know that one of the things I found distracting in the DC kids' books was things like the kids in Teen Titans Go always using their codenames--they could be in an entirely social situation, having a birthday party, and they were still "Beast Boy" and "Robin" and so forth to each other. That's only a quibble, though. Unless the Marvel Adventures Avengers do likewise. Then it will be a complaint. :)
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